Rain
by The Fluff Machine
Summary: It was a normal, non-thundering rainy day. But, when you're part of the Host Club, nothing stays normal for long. KyoHaru.


**Rain**

It was pouring outside, and Haruhi was sitting very contentedly on the sofa drinking piping hot tea.

_Rain is nice, _she decided inwardly. _When there's no thunder, rain is nice._

After all, it was rain that kept everything alive, and it smelled amazing, and everything just felt so clean after a heavy rain. It was the thunder and lightning and wind speeds of 80 mph that terrified her to paralysis.

For Kyoya Otori, rain was _not _nice. Especially when the driver filling in for Tachibana was horrifically late (He was fired. So fired.) and he was stuck dripping wet outside of Ouran Academy. Of course today would be the day that the school closed early for spring break and it was pouring rain and his driver was nowhere to be seen.

He tried standing underneath a tree for cover, but it made absolutely no difference because the tree was dripping wet as well. Now, his uniform would have to be thoroughly cleaned if not replaced and he was in a foul mood.

This was not a good day, and rain was not nice. Not one little bit. If rain could be fired from weather, Kyoya would've seen to it that it was done.

He refused to call Tamaki, or any of the other hosts for that manner, because Otoris did not get caught in the rain, and they were never seen dripping wet and furious. He contemplated what to do when he remembered the one person who he was not required to keep up appearances around.

So, he sighed and began the drudging three mile walk to Haruhi's apartments.

* * *

It was now seven o'clock and Haruhi had just started to work on dinner when a series of knocks fell on the door. She began to walk over when the pounding got harder, angrier.

"I'm coming," she called irritably. Her father had probably forgotten his key again, and he hated to be caught in the rain. It ruined his hair, makeup, and clothes; a hellish trifecta.

She opened the door to find the one person she least expected: the Shadow King, Kyoya Otori.

"Kyoya senpai-"

"Haruhi, I'm dripping wet and far from happy. Can we skip the formalities?"

"Come in," she nodded. He stepped inside, closing the door.

"Stay there and I'll get some towels."

It was when she went down the hall that she actually realized what just happened. She grabbed several towels and glanced down the hallway, just to make sure she hadn't been seeing things. Sure enough, Kyoya was still there, fuming and trying to dry his wet glasses with his wet school blazer.

"Really, senpai?" She traded his glasses for the pile of towels without saying another word and stepped into her room. _You'd think he never cleaned a pair of glasses before,_ she thought as she opened the drawer where she kept the glasses cleaner and cloth from when she wore glasses. She gave them a thorough wipe down and returned to the living room, where Kyoya was toweling off his hair.

"Here," she said simply, unfolding the glasses and placing them on the bridge of his nose. "I'll get you some of Dad's old clothes. They might not fit, but they're at least dry." Kyoya only nodded. It was only a moment before she came back out with an old white t-shirt and black jeans.

"The bathroom's down the hall. First door on the right." Kyoya took the clothes without a word and left to go change.

"No need to thank me," Haruhi mumbled once he'd gone. Then again, Kyoya was acting just as she expected he would in this sort of situation. As weird as this whole thing was, Kyoya was still Kyoya, and he didn't feel the need to put on a show around her.

_Come to think of it, that's probably the reason he came to me. He doesn't have to impress me, so he can ask me for help. _Knowing she was simply being used was predictable, but nonetheless irritating. She grumbled a bit before remembering the potato leek soup on the stove and returning to the thing she'd been doing before her evening had been thrown off track.

A few minutes later, Kyoya emerged from the bathroom. Haruhi had long since decided to just go with the situation. No use complaining about what she couldn't change. He walked up next to her and watched as she attended to the soup.

"Would you like some? It's almost done."

"That would be lovely, thank you." She knew even before he finished speaking that the politeness and gratitude in his voice were real. In that one phrase, she understood that he was thanking her for everything, not just the soup.

No other words were exchanged between them. The few they said were all that were needed, and neither person was wasteful, even of words. He stayed next to her as she cooked, and she wasn't thrown at all by his presence.

It wasn't until she handed him a bowl of soup that he got her full attention. That was when she realized how good he looked in her father's 'commoner clothing' and she felt her cheeks flush just slightly. Kyoya looked good in the school uniform, she knew, but there was something about seeing him dressed down that was almost like seeing a side of him no one else but Tamaki and his family had seen, and she treasured that.

The pair made their way to the kotatsu and sat down across from one another as if they'd been doing it all their life. There were a few minutes of silence before Haruhi spoke.

"So senpai, how did you get stuck in the rain."

"I have an idiot for a driver," he said simply. They didn't speak again, and when they'd both finished, Haruhi took their bowls to the sink. She happened to glance out the window, and her eyes widened.

_Oh no._

The clouds. They were too dark. She knew full well what that meant.

_And this night was going so well. _

"Please excuse me senpai, I'll be right back," she said in passing to Kyoya as she made her way to her room. She didn't stop to see his reaction. It was coming soon, and there was absolutely no reason to break down in from of him. He'd think her foolish, no doubt. The minute she closed her bedroom door behind her, the first streak of lightning lit up her dark room, and the thunder that quickly followed split the sky. The wave of terror she knew was coming hit her like a ton of bricks, and she lost all sensible thought as she dove under the covers of her bed. It was the routine she knew so well: one storm came, and she was left to ride out another.

She hadn't thought very far ahead in this plan of hers to save face, so she didn't think of what might happen when she left Kyoya out in the other room for an undefined period of time. She also forgot to factor in his knowledge of her severe fear of thunderstorms.

Therefore, she really shouldn't have been surprised when the bedroom door slid open and Kyoya knelt next to her bed.

"Haruhi," he murmured, and in the state she was in, she mistook the concern in his voice for disapproval.

"Go away," she whimpered, drawing even more into herself when the next wave of thunder hit.

"I can handle this myself. No need to waste your time," she continued when there was a pause in the noise.

"You've been doing an excellent job thus far," he muttered. He pulled the covers back to reveal Haruhi looking smaller than he thought possible. Her eyes were squinted shut and her hands were over her ears.

"Do you really think this is a waste of my time?" he said softly. "I'm surprised you haven't found the merit in it, Haruhi." Then, he stood up, removed her hands from her ears, and laced his fingers with hers. At this, she opened her eyes, and she saw someone she almost didn't recognize.

"Kyoya senpai?"

"When I was seven years old, I was terrified that my parents would abandon me. I was the third child, made to believe I was useless. Whenever I did something wrong or simply not up to my father's standards, he would tell me that Otoris did not act that way and then ignore me completely until I rectified my mistake, as if I could not be a member of the family until I was up to par. My mother followed my father's example, so I was ignored by both of them as well as my older brothers. My older sister, Fuyumi, was the only one who paid me any attention during those times, which could stretch from anywhere from a few days, to a few weeks.

"It got to the point where I feared that any tiny mistake would be the last straw and they would abandon me to fend for myself. Of course, this fear was illogical because it would look extremely bad if my parents were to do such a thing, but I didn't know that at the time. It would keep me up at night trying to assess my imperfections and finding ways to fix them. It was only when I came to understand that fearing something that I couldn't change was not only unproductive, but it was harmful to my well being. If my parents were going to disown me for my mistakes, then so be it. My endless worrying was only causing me to perform worse because of the stress, making my father even more displeased with me, and serving to fuel the vicious cycle.

"When I was finally able to move on from that fear was when I began to do my best. It turns out my best was better than my father ever led me to believe, and I have been working tirelessly ever since."

His voice, so calm and sure, had managed to drown out the loud claps of thunder outside, and him giving her so much information about himself so willingly had stunned Haruhi into silence. Not once when he was talking had he ever looked away from her.

"I know you think someone might look down on you for your fears, but I'm telling you that I don't, and I never have. I just want you to know that when you're ready, you'll have the power to move past it."

She looked at him for a moment, blinked, and smiled. Slowly, she let go of his hands and then, all at once, threw her arms around him, knocking him back slightly from the force of her embrace. The thunder came again, and for once, she didn't flinch.

"I think I already have," she whispered. He paused for a moment before wrapping his arms around her, returning the hug with surprising intensity.

It felt like only a moment had passed when Kyoya pulled back, and in a rare moment of tenderness, kissed her forehead lightly. They'd connected in a way that couldn't be forgotten or written off. He stood up from the bed and held out his hand. She took it and stood up next to him.

"Thank you, Kyoya," she said, testing out his name without the honorific on her lips and waiting for his reaction. He just gave her a ghost of a smile.

"I should be the one thanking you. After all, you did harbor me unexpectedly during a torrential downpour." And just like that, the regular Kyoya was back. Something in his voice was different though, softer somehow, and they both knew it. Something had shifted irreversibly between them, and neither believed it to be a bad thing.

"Your phone must be waterlogged," Haruhi said gently with a smile. "If you like, you can use mine to call your driver."

"My driver is an idiot," Kyoya replied without any real irritation. "He's the one who got me in this mess in the first place." There was a moment's pause before Haruhi decided, in her blunt fashion, to say exactly what was on her mind.

"Then you'll have to thank him for me."

Kyoya smiled again, a genuine one. He brushed a stray lock of hair off of her forehead and let his fingers linger there a moment as his smile was transformed into a smirk.

"I suppose I will," he replied. She reached up and took his hand just as he was bringing it away from his face.

"You know, my reputation as 'Shadow King' would be destroyed if any of the others saw this," he mused aloud whilst lacing his fingers through hers, lowering their connected arms down to their sides.

"I guess you should be glad they're not here then," Haruhi said as if this sort of interaction between them was the most normal thing in the world. They were unconsciously gravitating towards one another, getting closer and closer until there was only a few inches of space between them.

Kyoya looked at her for a moment, the commoner who had changed his life so quickly. Her eyes were still slightly red from crying, and it seemed to bring out the bright amber in them even more than usual. Her whole face was relaxed in a way that he'd never seen before, as if she'd cast off all of her normal worries. It suited her. He realized then just how beautiful he thought she was. Then, the corners of his mouth lifted up. It surprised him, the emotions he was allowing himself to feel for her. What surprised him even more was what he'd discovered in her eyes. The tenderness he saw in them revealed that she cared about him just as much as she cared about the other hosts, despite all of the pieces of him she'd seen. He could practically hear his father's voice telling him that Otoris did not act rashly, but as he took her in, saw the raw emotion in her face, he decided he didn't care.

"Did you ever figure out what the merit for me in doing this was?" She shook her head.

"It's simple, really. Now that I don't have to worry about you every time a thunderstorm rolls in. I'll get so much more work done this way."

"You worried about me?"

"To distraction. After all, who knows how it could potentially affect your hosting?" It was easy to tell he wasn't serious, and she smiled.

"You know," he said after a moment's pause, "I am rather glad the Host Club isn't here. I wouldn't want Tamaki to witness what I'm about to do."

Haruhi looked at him questioningly.

"What are you about to-" she was cut off by his lips on hers, a swift, light kiss before he pulled away. He tried to gauge her reaction, but instead of the shock he expected to find, he only found happiness.

"You know, Kyoya, I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to do that." Her confidence and the way she seemed to glow mesmerized him. She was always the only one who ever managed to surprise him constantly, and that was part of what he loved about her.

"Did you ever doubt me?" he asked, teasing her.

"I had faith."

He sighed lightly.

"You always do."

"Is that a bad thing?" she smiled.

"Not at all. Your boundless, unrealistic faith is part of what keeps me sane."

"I guess you're lucky I came along when I did, then."

"Endlessly."

He leaned in to kiss her again and her arms wrapped around him as she returned it with the symphony of light rain for their music. In that moment, Kyoya decided that rain wasn't quite so bad. And that insufferable driver deserved a very large raise.

* * *

**Yay! Kyoya backstory party! This is the second oneshot in three days, but the rain started coming down and the words started flowing off my fingers. I wanted to put a twist on the much-used thunderstorm scene, and I think it worked relatively well. I'm all for digging into characters and analyzing them, and something about giving little Kyoya a phobia of his own humanized him in a way, and made it easier to connect him to Haruhi and vice versa in the writing. I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it~ Until next time!**

**Thanks for staying at the Fluff Factory, and I'll see ya next time!**

**Much love,**

**The Fluff Machine**


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